09/16/2009

Google Chrome 3 is Launched.

Those of you who are tired of reading about all the great features Google has been packing into Chrome's beta and developer channel builds, it's time to break out the Guinness. A fortnight after Google Chrome's first birthday, Google has bumped the stable version to 3.0.195.21.

So what does that mean, exactly? The stable version now includes features like the updated new tab page, improved omnibar, and themes support. Oh yeah, there's also the Javascript performance boost -- at last check, the V8 engine's power level was well over 9,000. Or 150% better than Chrome's first beta release, anyway.

HTML5 support has also made its way into the stable channel, making it possible to take advantage of things like the <video> tag (try it out here) and <audio> and <canvas> elements. Check out Chrome Experiment #50 to see audio and canvas at work.

Bookmark syncing and extension support still aren't included - those are still reserved for the daredevilish types running the beta and developer channels.

Insert snide remark here: Three major versions in a year, huh? At this rate, Google will be pushing Google Chrome 7 by the time Mozilla ships Firefox 4 in 2010.